A feast that cannot satiate
When Noel Coward
died in 1973, one of his hundreds of lyrics was quoted by hundreds of writers
all over the world: “I believe that since my life began / The most I’ve had is
just a talent to amuse.”
Except for Coward’s
many endlessly revived plays, I honestly don’t know how much appeal that
phenomenal talent still has for a new young audience. But for an older audience
such as attends most theaters today the songs, routines, and witticisms that
make up Geva’s lovingly put-together world premiere production of A Marvelous Party: The Noel Coward
Celebration are a feast that cannot satiate.
On Noel Coward’s
recordings of much of this material, especially his late-in-life cabaret acts
in Las Vegas and New York, the audiences react with audible joy to his
incomparable delivery of these sentimental, witty, satirically evil, and wise
lyrics and lovely melodies. The devisers of this show — director David Ira
Goldstein, musical director Carl J. Danielsen, and the three unusually talented
performers, Danielsen, Mark Anders, and Anna Lauris — admirably find their
own delightful ways to make Coward’s words and music affect us without ever
trying to imitate their inimitable creator. That’s impressive.
Anders is an
extraordinarily appealing chameleon who finds a variety of appearances, voices,
and manners to deliver Coward’s haunting “Matelot,” glorious patter song “Mad
Dogs and Englishmen,” dishy “I’ve Been to A Marvelous Party,” and gorgeous
“Someday I’ll Find You.”
Danielsen has
enough wit to do justice to the satirical “Mrs. Wentworth Brewster” and enough
charm to sing Coward’s trademark “If Love Were All.” And both men are superb
pianists who offer a really showy duo-piano arrangement of Coward’s biggest
hits with aplomb and genuine wit.
Lauris sings
“I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” and “Mad About the Boy” attractively (though the
latter sneaked in a gay subtext when Coward sang it), but her knockout tour de
force is a one-woman presentation of the parody show, The Coconut Girl. She’s a likable performer with a strong voice and
sufficient dancing talent to climax one number by sliding down to a full
side-split on the floor. And all three quote Coward’s memorable epigrams with
panache.
Not all of
Coward’s delicious songs could be included. I missed his hilarious “Alice Is at
it Again.” But director Goldstein and choreographer Patricia Wilcox devise very
entertaining twists on presenting the numbers, like the act one finale with all
three pleading with “Mrs. Worthington” not to put her daughter on the stage. I
also missed some of Coward’s additional lyrics to Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It”
like “Even Liberace… we assume,
does it!”; but they’ve come up with new lyrics of their own to make fun of Bush
and Cheney that had the audience loudly laughing and applauding.
Designers Bill
Forrester (scenery), David Kay Mickelsen (costumes), and Todd Hensley
(lighting) have created an elegant looking show that I think would have pleased
Coward. And musicians Tim Blinkhorn, David Labman, and Steve Curry provide
stylish accompaniment to the star pianists-singers.
I’ll ask Geva’s
staff members sometime how younger audience members seemed to react to A Marvelous Party during its run here,
but it seems to me to be a perfectly titled show.
— Herbert M. Simpson
You
should go if you want to celebrate a “talent to amuse.”
A Marvelous Party: The Noel Coward
Celebration Tuesdays through Sundays through November 6 | Geva Theatre
Center, 75 Woodbury Boulevard | $10.50 to $48.50 | 232-4382,
www.gevatheatre.org
Sleep when you’re dead
Like any venture that requires
pulling off that mainstay of foolhardy youth — the all-nighter — this plan
seems ill-advised. How well can fatigue and comedy mix?
But Geva Comedy Improv troupe’s
decision to entertain for 25 1/2 straight hours in the first-ever improvathon
at least has the appeal of a train wreck. We’ll want to see how this ends. In
tears? Maybe.
The comedy improv shows at Geva’s
Nextstage have become a draw for younger audiences, bringing them back into the
theater, making the stage a place where cheap beer is sold in cans, songs are
composed, and anything can happen. They’re a talented and funny bunch.
But 25.5 hours of straight,
unadulterated, no doubt highly caffeinated improv comedy? More than a full
day’s worth of hijinks, shenanigans, and crazy talk? Skits that run on cruelly
obscure audience suggestions? The debut — under extremely untested conditions
— of an improvised soap opera? Oh, we fear the worst.
— Erica Curtis
You
should go if you like things that make you say, “This I gotta see.”
Geva Comedy
Improvathon starts Friday, October 21, at 10:30 p.m. at Geva Theatre, 75
Woodbury Boulevard. Stick with them for the whole thing ($30 tickets) without
snoozing and you win season tickets to the improv shows. But you can just pop
in, too ($7). 232-4382, www.gevacomedyimprov.org.
This article appears in Oct 19-25, 2005.
